Chapter One Everybody
An army of Military Soldiers gather, together. They stand side by side like a wall of 6 foot Men. They pose for a picture for the Team and Family! Men in Military Uniform look like they returned from a Mission somewhere in Hell! Dressed in ripped, torn, tattered, and burnt yet recognizable in a Military Uniform. Soldiers who did not resemble the Living. Did look like Dead Soldiers from some Lost Long Forgotten War.
Our Prayers and our Tears go with the Dead. We deliver them to St Peter in Heaven through Prayers. A Saint to every Living Soldier! When we Die on a Battlefield For God and Country. We send our Prayers, Hopes, and Souls to a Soldier's Saint name St Peter. Whom we believe waits for our arrival. When we Die! If a Soldier's Heaven Exist?
He stood still he faced the Skies. He looked like he talked to Angels in Heaven. He Prayed in silence with words that were directed for the dead or Soldiers that remain behind in battle.
Maybe for the Wisdom to know the difference between Heaven, Hell and those bound for a place in between?
A Soldier of a free World. A Servant to his Country! A man that slipped into a Military Uniform! Who became a soldier that joined a Team. It is the duty of a Soldier to protect his Home from Land Invaders. And every Shore that surrounded his Country!
All I ask that we have enough time to see Family, Friends and say goodbye. Semper Fi! I would like to Thank God for the time that He allowed me to spend on His Good Great Earth. I had the time of my life! I have shared many joys! I raised my head to the Heavens and Stars above. I can say I ran with the best. Be fore it is over he made the Sign of the Cross. I am on my way to fight a Battle on Earth. He raised his weapon like he ran forth. He turned to face his Team! Then, he started to say another serenade of words to his Team's Kreed! Bury each, and every soldier Deep in the ground? When We Die? If, you do not bury us deep. We will return through the shallow ground not just for your soul neither. Krypt Kreepers!
A Team of Soldiers in Military Uniform dance around a Campfire in a circle, humming. A tune they knew the melody too. Nor the words neither. Lieutenant Longfellow decided one day that he did like this song. He knew his Team took on Missions that no other Team would consider or dare? He repeated these same words to the same song after he took several gulps of a peach colored drink. A Village Witch Doctor claimed it carried special power from the jungle, into the real world to come. Sometimes, it brought him sight from the Future, Present and past. At least this is what he told us Soldiers Stationed in Africa Deep in Congo!
After he turned he stared into that same darkness that surrounded the Village on every side to listen to the sound of wild animals. Lions and hyenas that search for red meat! A multitude of grunts and screeches follow him like a horde of zombies with stomach pains that slowly died from a lack of food aarghh?
Soldiers continue to sing in the background shalalala live for today but don't worry bout tomorrow. Soldiers would raise their glass. Drink from a container that resembled some kind of vegetable squash. A bottle of fruit in a jug while they hummed along. They stepped 3 steps forward then three back. They're feet never left the ground like they did a moonwalk. They remain in place with their back hunched over. Motion the ir head toward the ground. Both arms hung down from their side to the Earth like monkeys. They stand in 1 place and dance to the same words to the same song.
Soldiers continued to sing along. He followed a Soldier's Footsteps in front of him. Then, they would stop again this time to step forward hunched over like cave men who hummed and bobbed their head. One glance to his left he sees a fire rise into the skies. Multiple flames that could touch Heaven or faded into the dark in between. Mike sipped o n a light green liquid in a fruit container. It resembled a squash filled with a mind altering alcoholic drink that Africans make them self.
He did not want to listen and watch. He reached into his pocket for a video cassette. He placed a tape in a mini Video Recorder and closed it tight until it clicks. He raised it to his right eye. He aimed it at Soldiers that danced around a tall fire and acted like cavemen. Zeemba ordered him to join the others. Allow me to shoot you with your Soldiers Lieutenant. Zeemba the Village Witch Doctor Videotaped Lieutenant Longfellow.
Military Soldiers continued to dance, hum and walk like cavemen to a song that made them feel like, dancing. A song he believed brought Soldiers together through hard times! Still in the eyes of a Military Soldier. It rightfully belonged to him. Since a soldier's life is always filled with uncertainty. Whether, the outcome is his life or the lives of his Men.
Everyone yelled shalala live for today? They add another verse to the same song in hope that the alcoholic content made them smile! After awhile Zeemba stared into the dark like he looked for something to appear. A spirit, horde of zombies, black army of beasts to feast on him and his Tribe. He stared without blinking an eye like he fell into a trance. Or, until he actually believed something materialized right before his eyes. A thin black cloud of smoke with 2 eyes stare back like it watched him from the Jungle. Unaware who or what watched. Made everyone feel uncomfortable. It made Mike stare in disbelief until he imagined something crawl or run at him from the dark. It surrounded the campfire besides the Village? He visualized large beasts with numerous heads that look like lions. Or the Spirits of the Dead. Souls that would r ise or fall. A horde of meat eating zombies wait to eat the living. If they walk or stray too far from the Village! Ready to tear them into pieces so they can devour the meat that clung to their bones.
Later on several Soldiers in Uniform sit down on t he ground. They sit around a campfire to talk to a Witch Doctor that claimed to see the Devil. He talked about spirits that talk to him from the other side that hide in the dark. The Witch Doctor told him that it waited for Lieutenant Longfellow. An army o f dead men will rise to your command. They will follow you into battle? If need be they would die under your Command Sir! You cannot see them Lieutenant! They could be here Soldier. They do exist that much I can tell you? What were you trying to say Zeemba? That you can see them in the dark? Do you see them on some lost forgotten battlefield! Do you see death in their faces. I see spirits that live in the dark! They look down on you, Lieutenant. They stand around us as we speak Michael. They wait for a man that will guide them through thick and thin. I can hear them whisper the names of every Soldier in your Team. I can hear Yours too! He raised his head as if an answer would fall from the skies or Heaven. The names of every Krypt Kreepers! A large black ma n with braids stared up at the dark overhead. His eyes twirl into the back of his head somewhere. He can see shadows, the size of Humans walk pass him. His eyes return to his eye sockets with the look of fear in them both. Dark disciples hide in the dark further than the human eye can see. Beasts, come to life in the middle of the night. Monsters, I come to see every time I close my eyes Lieutenant. One Day you will see. You will encounter these same black beasts. They are far worst then the mighty lion in the jungle. More ferocious than any man eater alive today. You cannot kill a beast with an ordinary gun, knife, spear or bullet. You will have to kill them, many times. You will know when they are finally dead. What kind of beast needed to die that many times Zeemba? The kind that do not remain dead in the black earth or buried in the ground? He remembered he told his Men something like that long ago. The kind that continue to rise from the dark! Or, graves that were filled with the undying undead! You will not see them until it is too late! Until, it is time to return to the ground from where they come! Until it is time for the enemy to die!
Zeemba always talked in a Heavy African Accent. Every time he would talk. He would smile at the pronunciation that he used in words that he spoke? Zeemba had several words and visions he did say. The kind he would see things that no man claimed to see or had ever seen before like a spirit that walked among the Living. It made him smile yet nobody else would find that amusing because no one else can see them. I know they do exist. I can tell you this much. You will see them in your Dreams. Sometimes, in your Nightmares. If you see them at all, Lieutenant. I know you know what I'm talking about. Someday, you will. It will be